Selena Quintanilla-Pérez's killer to reveal secrets in new docuseries on Oxygen True Crime
Yolanda Saldívar, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez' convicted killer, is set to appear in a new documentary TV series from Oxygen True Crime.
The show will premiere with back-to-back episodes at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 and Sunday, Feb. 18. Episodes will be available to stream on Peacock the day after they air.
The two-part limited series, "Selena & Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them," will include interviews with Saldívar from prison, details of her working relationship and friendship with Selena and interviews with Saldívar's family. The series will share never-before-revealed documents and recordings "in an effort to show there was more to the tragedy than the public knows," according to a release.
"After so many years, I think it's time to set the story straight," Saldívar said in the trailer for the series. "I knew her secrets, and I think the people deserve to know the truth."
The show premiere comes one year before Saldívar is eligible for parole, Mar. 30, 2025 — almost 30 years after the Queen of Tejano’s murder.
Selena was fatally shot by Saldívar in 1995, just two weeks ahead of what would have been her 24th birthday.
Saldívar allegedly killed Selena after the Grammy Award-winning singer learned she had been embezzling money from her clothing boutiques.
What happened March 31, 1995?
Police arrested then-34-year-old Saldívar after a nine and a half-hour standoff. She surrendered after threatening to commit suicide as she sat in a pickup, according to a Caller-Times article.
Selena was shot in the back before noon at the Days Inn Hotel and was taken to Memorial Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 1:05 p.m.
A Days Inn housekeeper, identified only as Norma, said she was checking a room around 11:40 a.m. when she heard two women talking and then saw Selena running out of the room.
"She was running from a girl that she had been talking to," Norma said. "Selena ran out of the room and near the pool, and then the girl followed her and shot her while she was running."
After she was shot, Selena ran around the side of the hotel to the front of the lobby, where she encountered Carlos Morales who was waiting for a ride outside the hotel.
"I heard somebody screaming and running and screaming 'Help me,' so I looked back, and I didn't know who she was, I just thought, 'Oh man, she got shot,'" Morales said. "She ran up to me and kind of grabbed onto me, so I carried her inside, into the lobby and then she crawled in behind the counter.
"She said 'They shot me. She's in room 158. Lock the door, they're going to come in and shoot me again,'" Morales said. "I didn't know if whoever shot her was going to come into the lobby and shoot everybody or what. She was just in shock."
After Morales carried her inside, he helped her lay down on the floor while the hotel clerk called police. An off-duty police officer was in the restaurant of the hotel at the time and also called for help.
"After she laid on the floor she kind of passed out and was just being quiet," Morales said. "We kept telling her, 'You'll be all right.' I was with a friend of mine, and he was holding her where her heart was. It looked like she was shot in the back and it (the bullet) came out through the front."
Morales said he never saw Saldívar, but after police arrived he went to room 158 to see what was going on. The door was closed, he said, and there was blood on the ground, blood on the door handle and on the carpet.
Former Nueces County Medical Examiner Dr. Lloyd White told the Caller-Times Selena died of severe blood loss after a bullet struck the back of her right shoulder and hit an artery.
"She was virtually dead on arrival at the hospital," White said.
Saldívar surrendered about 9:35 p.m. Police wrestled her to the ground and handcuffed her.
Saldívar's trial
The trial began Oct. 9, 1995, and ended with a verdict Oct. 23, 1995.
Saldívar was tried on one count of first-degree murder.
On April 3, 1995, Saldívar was arraigned and pleaded not guilty. She said the shooting was accidental and she intended to commit suicide.
The prosecution team called around 50 witnesses, including Selena's father Abraham Quintanilla Jr., her widower Chris Pérez, the owners of the gun shop where Saldívar purchased the firearm, employees from her boutiques, employees at the Days Inn motel where Selena was shot and emergency personnel.
The defense called fewer witnesses, which included Saldívar's parents, former co-workers, motel staff at the Days Inn, Selena's former seventh-grade teacher and the lead murder investigator.
The evidence used in the trial included the gun used to kill Selena, the outfit Saldívar wore the day she claimed she was sexually assaulted and the recorded conversations between FBI negotiators Larry Young and Issac Valencia, and Saldívar.
After a two-hour deliberation, the jury convicted Saldívar of murder and she was sentenced to a maximum of life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole until March 2025.
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John Oliva covers entertainment and community news in South Texas. Contact him at [email protected] or X @johnpoliva.
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Selena's killer to appear in new docuseries on Oxygen True Crime